Alberta Innovates - Bio Solutions

2014

November 2014	Sustainable Production	Alberta industry urged to consider climate change in seedling selection Since about 1940, Alberta's mean annual temperature has risen between one and 1.5 degrees Celsius. Most warming occurs in the spring, which now arrives about two weeks sooner, with temperatures as much as five degrees warmer in March and April than in the past. In addition, precipitation during the growing season has substantially declined over the past several decades.
October 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	Al Bio support for NAIT program resulting in better well site, road reclamation Early financial support from Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI Bio) for the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology's (NAIT) Boreal Reclamation Program has delivered a major environmental dividend to the province in how Alberta's oil and gas companies reclaim their abandoned well sites and resource roads.
Aug-Sept 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	Cars made out of …Wood? The BioComposites Group plantin Alberta is very close to bringing its unique product-wood fibre mat produced from refined SPF wood fibre-to industries such as auto manufacturing that are looking for greener materials, and cost savings.
Aug-Sept 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	Lucrative extract market opens for forest industry with AI Bio support for Radient Technologies The door is now open for forest companies to potentially tap woody biomass and residuals such as leaves and bark for their high value extracts with the launch of the Radient Technologies commercial production plant in Edmonton.
June-July 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	AI Bio-supported research identifies wood-based polymers as cheaper and lighter alternative Wood-based polymers may soon have widespread use in automotive components but it's their potential as a replacement building material for packaging products like wood pallets that has Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI Bio) excited for local forest product manufacturers.
November 2014	Sustainable Production	Delta Genomics now a full-fledged not-for-profit genomic testing service Edmonton-based Delta Genomics, a University of Alberta spin-off "project" [and part of an Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions centre] is now a fully independent, fee-for-service, but not-for-profit genomic testing service that is set to directly improve Canadian livestock and thereby indirectly enhance world-wide animal protein production.
May 2014	Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity	AI Bio supports research aimed at protecting landscape biodiversity in Alberta Alberta biodiversity researchers want to find ways to minimize the impact of seismic lines on wildlife populations.
May 2014	Prion and Prion-like Neurological Diseases	Drs. Sabine Gilch and Hermann Schätzl Research and innovation are driven by talent, ideas and collaboration. The Alberta Prion Research Institute, a business line within Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, has helped to build the talent pool in Alberta since its formation in 2005.
May 2014	Prion and Prion-like Neurological Diseases	Examining the Role of Plants in Prion Transmission Science has shown that infectious prion proteins can be shed into the environment through feces, bodily fluids and decomposition of infected animals, but there is little understanding of what happens to those prions. This means that environmental elements, including plants, could play a role in prion transmission, which has implications for mitigating the spread of prion diseases.
May 2014	Prion and Prion-like Neurological Diseases	New Methods of Producing Hydrocarbons and Plastic Becoming a Reality The real value of research is in generating the knowledge that leads to game-changing products and technologies that solve problems and provide new opportunities.
May 2014	Prion and Prion-like Neurological Diseases	Alberta Researchers Take New Approaches to Alzheimer's Disease When Dr. Alois Alzheimer first identified Alzheimer's disease in 1906, he likely had no idea that the disease would become the social and health crisis that it is today.
May 2014	Sustainable Production	Dr. Victor Lieffers A professor and Chair in the department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta, Victor Lieffers got interested in forest management in what he says was a very odd way.
May 2014	Sustainable Production	Understanding the Genetic Variation in Spruce Budworm Species Spruce budworm has done more economic damage across Canada than mountain pine beetle and has had a larger impact in Alberta for many more years. A complex of several closely related species, the pest attacks coniferous trees, and outbreaks can be devastating.
May 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	CNC-Reinforced Lightweight Sandwich Structure Industry and academics are excited about a high value material that can be extracted from wood fibre called cellulose nanocrystals (CNC).
May 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	New Tools for Modular and Off-Site Construction Industry The 2014 Modular and Off-Site Construction Summit held in May in Edmonton featured many updates from the research program managed by the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in the Industrialization of Building Construction at the University of Alberta.
May 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	Maintaining Pellet Export Pathway to Europe The European Union (EU) consumes about 85 per cent of the world's wood pellets. About 30 per cent is supplied by Canada, amounting to almost $300 million in annual sales to the EU. But until recently, Canada's access to the European wood pellet market was in jeopardy.
May 2014	Ecosystem Services	Dr. Scott Nielsen Dr. Scott Nielsen is interested in research that can be applied to solve conservation and stewardship challenges. An associate professor in the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta, Nielsen has spent the past 14 years working on grizzly bear conservation. He is now one of two new Alberta Biodiversity Conservation Chairs at the university, working to address biodiversity conservation in the oil sands.
May 2014	Ecosystem Services	Dr. Tom Habib Passionate about wildlife and the environment since childhood, Tom Habib spends his days at a computer figuring out how to quantify their value to society. A conservation offsets expert, Habib is a research coordinator on the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute's (ABMI) Ecosystem Services Advisory Committee, and he's playing a lead role in the new and rapidly evolving field of ecosystem services.
May 2014	Ecosystem Services	Methane Biofilters Inexpensive Technology for Reducing GHG Emissions In Alberta and around the world, there are countless low-volume methane emitters, including landfills, oil and gas field sites, and feedlots. Individually, they don't release enough methane to warrant capturing the gas to use for energy, but taken as a whole, they do make a contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. An innovative technology that uses bacteria in biofilters to reduce the amount of methane might be the solution, and while the product isn't on the market yet, it has already captured international attention.
May 2014	Food Innovation	Dr. Michael Ganzle Originally from Germany, Dr. Michael Gänzle, professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2), Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, has been contributing to the field of food microbiology since the early 1990s. Curiosity and new discoveries have kept him passionate about his work.
May 2014	Food Innovation	Getting the Salty Taste Consumers Love while Cutting the Salt High levels of sodium in the North American diet have been shown to increase the risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. While both industry and government want to reduce salt in processed food, that has to be done in a way that doesn't impact taste, or consumers won't be interested.
May 2014	Food Innovation	Researchers Bringing Value to the Humble Potato Peel Alberta is one of Canada's largest potato producers. Growing numbers of those potatoes are destined to end up in processed potato products that don't use the peels. Today, potato peels are waste, but a new technology might make them valuable to industry.
May 2014	Sustainable Production	Boosting Profit Margins for Swine and Poultry Producers There is growing competition for feed grains for swine and poultry, and costs have escalated. Because these grains are the largest component of animals' diets, Alberta's producers are watching their cost of production rise dramatically. To help producers stay competitive, it is critical to identify alternative feedstuffs that can reduce production costs without impacting animal performance
May 2014	Sustainable Production	A New Approach to Developing Hardier Crop Varieties Stresses such as extreme temperatures, drought, nitrogen and phosphorous deficiencies, and viruses reduce agricultural productivity. Until now, there were only two ways of improving the stress resistance of crops: selection and breeding, and genetic modification. But thanks to ongoing research in a new direction, there could be another method available that results in plants adapting rapidly to the environment and remaining stress resistant for generations.
May 2014	Food Innovation	16 Years Later, CanBiocin Continues to Pursue New Products Located in Edmonton, CanBiocin Inc. is a research and development company focused on developing lactic acid bacteria-based products to enhance human and animal health. Today this novel Alberta company is actively pursuing the commercialization of new products that could lead to the growth of the business and improve the health of companion animals. consumers won't be interested.
May 2014	Sustainable Production	New tool allows for faster identification of clubroot-resistant canola plants An innovative screening technique developed in a project funded by AI Bio offers a fast, highly accurate way to select for resistance and can be used in the future to collect more information about the pathogen that causes clubroot.
May 2014	Sustainable Production	Dr. John Basarab. Talent Profile A research scientist at Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development and adjunct professor at the universities of Alberta and Manitoba, as well as a member of the senior management team of Livestock Gentec, Basarab's work has directly benefited the beef industry and continues to do so in new ways.
March 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	OSB and foam structural insulated panel aiming for building code acceptance Research and testing is now being done to develop a technical guide to garner possible National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) acceptance for a composite building material called a structural insulated panel (SIP) consisting of a foam interior with oriented strandboard (OSB) as the only structural wood component around the exterior.
February 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	Modular and Off-site Construction Summit coming in May Attendees to the upcoming 2014 Modular and Off-Site Construction Summit slated for Edmonton from May 12-14 can expect the same high quality of presenters and technology transfer potential as when the inaugural-and highly successful-2012 Summit was held.
April 2014	Bioindustrial Innovation	AI Bio working through IEA to maintain pellet export pathway to Europe The European Union consumes about 85 per cent of the world's wood pellets, and about 30 per cent of that is supplied by Canada. AI Bio has supported Canadian Institute of Forestry activities aimed at averting potential trade barriers to this important market.

Last updated: Thursday, February 11, 2016